What goes into categorizing a climb?

[sfscott]

I was wondering why local hills of note don't have categories like the climbs of the alps.

Is there a history or rule of thumb to categorizing climbs?

[MattTuck]

length, elevation gain and steepness.


strava will categorize your local climbs, unless you life in Kansas and your 'local climb' is a highway overpass.

[rain dogs]

Back when this car, the Citroen Traction Avant, was the official car of the Tour de France, it was the gear they needed to go up the hill. The Hors Categories climbs were the ones the car couldn't make it up. It's where the 4,3,2,1,Hors comes from.

http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/classic/large/1934-57_Citroen_Traction_01.jpg

[vqdriver]

I don't know if this is "official" but seems like a good primer nonetheless

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/climb_information/

[jlwdm]

Location on the course also.

Jeff

[FlashUNC]

Its nothing more than a marketing gimmick created to sell the toughness of bike races to the public. There's no standard formula.

[flydhest]

Back when this car, the Citroen Traction Avant, was the official car of the Tour de France, it was the gear they needed to go up the hill. The Hors Categories climbs were the ones the car couldn't make it up. It's where the 4,3,2,1,Hors comes from.

http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/classic/large/1934-57_Citroen_Traction_01.jpg

Is that true? Sounds plausible, given the French, but also seems the kind of apochrypha that gets turned into legend.

[azrider]

Location on the course also.

Jeff

this.

a mtn that normally rates as a 4 can be bumped to a 3 or even 2 if it comes later on in a stage or placed towards teh end of a race.

[Mark McM]

Is that true? Sounds plausible, given the French, but also seems the kind of apochrypha that gets turned into legend.

I'm pretty sure that its' just 'one of those stories' that got started somewhere partially in jest, and got repeated so many times that people started to believe it.

While there are a few rules of thumb about how to categorize climbs, it is purposely left to subjective evaluation. In some ways it is similar to ski slope categorization, which varies from one ski are to the next - a 'Black Diamond' slope at one ski area might only rate as an 'Intermediate' slope at another, etc.

For example, the Tour of California uses this method (http://www.tourofcalifornia.org/2006/01/rating-bike-climbs.html), but even here they say that categorization can be adjusted by gradient and position in a stage.

[oliver1850]

MapMyRide has evidently come up with their own standards, as their elevation data will show categorized clims. If you map Mt. Evans from Summit Lake, it shows the first section of just over a mile as a Cat 3, then the last 2.2 miles as a Cat 2, with about 3/4 mile uncategorized in between. It's odd that they don't list the % grades and lengths they've used to define their categories. Perhaps they didn't want to argue about them.

[christian]

Is that true?No, a Traction Avant will climb trees in first gear. First is probably only good for 20 kph, 2nd for 20-60, and 3rd for 50-100kph. Won't go much above that. Astoundingly modern car for being from the 30s.

[VonTrapp]

Is that true? Sounds plausible, given the French, but also seems the kind of apochrypha that gets turned into legend.

Oooooo! I want this story to be true!!! Snopes.com anyone?

[Mark McM]

Oooooo! I want this story to be true!!! Snopes.com anyone?

According to the Wikipedia article on Hors categorie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hors_cat%C3%A9gorie):



When the mountains classification in the Tour de France originated in the 1933 Tour de France, there was only one type of mountain. Points were given to the first cyclists to cross the mountains, starting with 10 points for the first cyclist, going down to 1 point for the tenth cyclist. After the second world war, in the 1947 Tour de France, the mountains were divided into two categories, the first and the second category. The first category mountains gave 10 points to the first cyclist, similar to before 1939, and the second category mountains gave only 5 points to the first cyclist.

The division in categories was successful, and already two years later, in 1949, the third category was added. These were even smaller mountains, which gave 3 points to the cyclist reaching the peak first.

In 1962, the fourth category was added. The points system was also revised: the first category now gave 15 points for the first cyclist, the second category 10 points, the third category 5 points and the fourth category 3 points. Although the fourth category disappeared in 1963, it came back again in 1964. The system with four categories kept in place until 1978, although the points distribution changed over the years.

In 1979, four categories was considered not enough, and another category was added. Instead of adding a fifth category, the Tour organisation decided to add a hors catégorie.

[cachagua]

Why local hills of note don't have categories like the climbs of the alps. . .

You have to understand that what's nearly impossible in a Grand Tour, is a false flat on your neighborhood ride. Remember, they're using Metric percent over there.

[chengher87]

Back when this car, the Citroen Traction Avant, was the official car of the Tour de France, it was the gear they needed to go up the hill. The Hors Categories climbs were the ones the car couldn't make it up. It's where the 4,3,2,1,Hors comes from.

http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/classic/large/1934-57_Citroen_Traction_01.jpg

But Phil and Paul confirmed this, so it must be true! They say it EVERY year during a few mountain climbs during each Tour.

[christian]

Gents, on top of having driven a TA, and being able to personally testify to its superior climbing prowess, can I also add that a Traction Avant has THREE (3) FORWARD gears (not four).